


To Meet Again

by Elvishdork



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Reunion, Reunited and It Feels So Good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28577949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvishdork/pseuds/Elvishdork
Summary: Achilles arrives in Elysium, but Patroclus isn't there.Yet.
Relationships: Achilles/Patroclus (Song of Achilles)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 178





	To Meet Again

It is an arrow that claims him. He is dead before he hits the dirt, but he smiles as he falls. 

It is odd to be dead as he is, to have a piece of spirit still tethered to his body. Where is Patroclus? Where is his other half? Has he already departed for the underworld? He should still be here though, the urn of ashes is not yet buried.

Then the sea-nymphs come and wash his body in oil and nectar. They weave flowers through his hair and the pyre is built. He watches as his body is placed upon it and the last of his spirit is set free. He watches as his mother watches the flames until he is rendered to ash. He watches as the servant girls collect his ashes and mingle them in the urn with Patroclus’. 

It is done. Just as he wished.

He feels his soul called away. Finally, finally he should be here. He finds himself already on Charon’s skiff, toll paid in gold, blood, deed, and legacy. He will not sit for judgement, he is bound for Elysium.

Achilles looks at the shore and tries to find the familiar set of hair and the face he’s been longing for. 

But still he is not there on the shore. 

Achilles jumps from the skiff before it’s truly hit the beach, before the god and ferryman can deliver him properly. If it is a slight, he is forgiven. 

Achilles runs about Elysium, ignoring the other shades that welcome and praise him. He is almost running, looking around and growing more desperate by the moment. Then his feet start to slow and he calls Patroclus’ name. 

Pat-ro-clus.

Over and over, until his voice is raw. 

Still his love does not answer or appear. 

He has to be here. Worried, angry, panicked: it suddenly dawns on him. Cruel fates, he’s still on Earth. He’s still a world away. 

Dropping to the grass of Elysium under his feet. He lets out a cry like a wounded animal, so full of grief still. He pulls at his golden hair again as he has done throughout the last of his days since his other half’s death.

They cannot keep him from him. Not again. Do not separate them again. It was bad enough when he was pulled away to Scyros without him. He cannot bear eternity without him now.

Achilles goes and pleads with all who will hear him. He goes to the House of Hades, and speaks with the lord of the dead. He throws every ounce of pride away and begs, begs for Patroclus. When Hades tells him there is nothing he can do, Achilles goes to Persephone, Goddess of the earth, begging her. When she also cannot bring his love to their realm, where he belongs, he goes to Macaria, goddess of burials, and then to Melinoë, the goddess of ghosts and lost souls. They cannot help him either. They are unable to do as he asks, they are bound by the rules that govern the world.

It was already bad enough that Thanatos was not the one to claim him. 

Achilles does not understand. Their ashes were mixed, his wishes known, and he was buried with more than enough coin for the ferry. Patroclus should not have been left to wander the earth until he fades. 

Achilles sits by the river Styx, watching and waiting for Charon’s boat. He clings to the small hope that Patroclus might come to him next time. He watches the faces of the shades passing further down the river and the shades coming into Elysium.

Time means nothing in the underworld. Achilles sits, watches, waits. And still he does not come.

At some point Hector finds him there. Stripped of the hurt and anger that life holds, he sits down next to the shell of the man who killed him. 

“I am sorry for having done this to you.” Hector says, eyes on the Styx and not on Achilles. 

“I am sorry for how I acted after your defeat.” Achilles says, tired and grieving. Forever grieving.

Hector places his hand on Achilles’ shoulder and they sit together for a time. Whether intentional or not, Achilles did give him ten more years than he should’ve had. And in the end he did return his body for proper rites. He did not condemn him to wander the earth before his shade faded into nothing. 

Hector voices none of this however, knowing it unfair that the fates have not allowed the same of Patroclus. The gods are many things, but never truly fair.

Hector leaves and eventually others come: Pyrrhus and other men he knew who fought at Troy. 

“I do not understand father. Why do you sit here and waste your afterlife? Come enjoy the splendor of Elysium. Forget the servant.” 

“Philtatos,” Achilles corrects instantly. Most beloved. Patroclus, the best of the Myrmidons. The best of all of them.

He wants to wring the neck of his son’s shade when he learns what he had done. He is the reason Patroclus never found rest. He is the reason why they are still separated. 

Pyrrhus would not allow Patroclus’s name on the tomb. He would not allow the second half of his soul to taint his memory and legacy. Fool, he was the only reason Achilles was ever so great. 

Achilles stares into the river Lethe now. He knows that a single drop on his tongue will take the pain away. It will wash the memories of his life away from him. It cannot be a worse fate than what he is left with, this eternal grieving. 

But he does not drink. Achilles cries on the barren shore unable to do it. He cannot lose the memories of Patroclus; to do so would be to lose all he has left and the rest of what he is. No, he cannot wash away the memories of Patroclus. His love's shade might be fated to fade on earth, but it will not fade from Achilles. That much he can still do.

Achilles watches the Styx again. He watches for an eternity. Time means nothing in the underworld and it means nothing without the better half of his soul. He watches Charon’s skiff approach for the millionth time since his arrival. 

This time it is different. 

Achilles is calling his name long before he can actually see his face. For the shade approaching is full of light that he would know anywhere, the light his soul has longed for so. 

Achilles reaches for him and Patroclus is jumping before the skiff touches the sand; into Achilles’ waiting arms. 

_Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun._

They embrace like they will never let go. They never shall. Together they shall be for all eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> So I binge read The Song of Achilles yesterday and this was written at 1am as some kind of soul therapy. A story hasn’t destroyed me like SoA has in a long while and every minute of it was worth it. So here’s my take on the in-between time where Achilles was alone in the underworld before Thetis put Patroclus’ name on the tomb.


End file.
